Patriciu, alone in Rompetrol after departure of key managers

Dinu Patriciu, the former owner of Rompetrol group, is the only Romanian left in the managing board of the organisation with turnover worth 8.7bn dollars, as all his key people have been replaced with Kazakh managers by the new shareholders. Overall, Rompetrol’s management structures now include 7 Kazakhs. Thus, at the end of last week, KazMunaiGaz, the Kazakh state-owned company that took over 100% in Rompetrol stock, announced the new management team, which no longer includes Eric Kish, a former senior vice-president for services and support companies, or Dan Ionescu, the group’s chief operating officer. The two had worked with Rompetrol for ten years, being considered as key-people in the company’s structure, effectively taking part in its development. Kish has recently stated he hadn’t made plans for the near future, yet, whereas Dan Ionescu could not be contacted for comment. Moreover, Adrian Petrus, the chief financial officer, as well as Ion Sturza, former deputy general manager with Rompetrol and member of the managing board, also left the company. Many of the newly appointed Kazakh managers are not even known to the employees. “Some have not even moved here. They don’t even have work permits. The situation is extremely unclear now,” company sources said.